Summer at Spinners End
by GoatMilkandTACOS
Summary: Having drifted apart somewhat from her old friend, Lily decides to visit Severus Snape in the summer before their fourth year at Hogwarts. Big mistake.


**My first ever HP fic. So be nice. :) - Nim**

Lily rolled over onto her back and sighed. She had been listening with mild interest to the babbling voices of her neighbours which drifted up through the open window of her bedroom, but now their mundane, Muggle conversation had begun to bore her. It was too hot, and a kind of heavy, uncomfortable heat, too. She didn't want to be stuck at home on such a day, and her mind drifted to the breezy grounds of Hogwarts, to the shade of the trees by the lake and her friends' laughing voices. Here, she was surrounded by people who couldn't possibly share her interests, in a town as dull as ditch water.

Her parents were at work, so the house was strangely quiet, but Lily knew her sister, Petunia, was downstairs in the living room; she could hear the faint music coming from the record player. Deciding she needed some company to keep her from going out of her mind, Lily unfolded herself from the bed and went downstairs.

Their house was at the bad end of the good part of town, right near the slow-flowing, dirty brown river that marked the boundary between the rows of plain, unassuming semi-detached houses with their own little gardens and cars on the driveways, and the sloping, cobbled streets of grim terraces that led up to the disused mill, reigning over the grim skyline. The little house in which Lily lived was kept neat mainly by her elder sister, who, since finishing school a year earlier, had been able only to find part-time work in a shop in town and had taken to cleaning to relieve the boredom. When Lily entered the living room that afternoon, she noticed that all the doilies had been freshly washed, the cushions with their floral covers plumped and all the surfaces polished so Lily could catch strange reflected fragments of her face as she looked around the room. Petunia, seventeen and rather bony and awkward in appearance, was sitting on the sofa, glass of water in hand, apron still on from her cleaning spree. The music coming from the record player was still very quiet.

"Hi, Petunia," Lily said cheerfully, sitting down heavily on one of the armchairs. Her sister maintained a sullen expression. "What's up? You look depressed."

"Oh, nothing," Petunia said viciously. "And what about you? Were you intending to actually _do _anything this summer?"

"What can I do?" Lily pulled a face. "I'm just waiting for school to start again."

She heard Petunia give a little 'ha!', but she ignored it. The sisters hadn't got along since Lily was eleven. Four years on, and still Petunia could not forgive her sister for being a witch. "Why don't we go for a walk or something? We never do that any more." Lily persisted. She didn't like the stupid relationship she had with her sister and while, admittedly, she rarely thought of it whilst at Hogwarts, when at home she liked to make some effort with Petunia.

"No. I've got to get ready for tonight. Emily's got tickets for us to this disco in town."

"Fine." Lily sighed, getting up. She knew how seriously her sister took the pursuit of finding a husband, and knew how Petunia would see such an event as an opportunity to do exactly that. "I'll go on my own."

In the hallway, Lily found her trainers and stuffed her feet into them, checked she had her wand and left the house, pulling the door shut with a little too much force. The sun beat down mercilessly on her head as she turned left along her street, automatically bending her steps towards the river. She and Petunia had spent their entire summers roaming these streets when they were children, crossing over the river to play in the fenced-off little playground kept for the kids in the neighbourhood. The kids from that side of the river, though, preferred to play down on the mud flats further downstream, so often, Lily and Petunia would remain undisturbed. Except when Severus came, of course.

She wanted, all of a sudden, to visit him. She hadn't been once in this holiday, and there were now only two weeks until they went back to Hogwarts. But things had changed between them in their fourth year – they had drifted apart. Lily _hated _Severus' friends, and they had stopped hanging about together so frequently. But, Lily thought, today she would visit him, and it would be just like old times. It didn't matter that they hadn't spoken in a while; it wasn't like Severus was particularly bothered about things like that. Lily crossed the river and walked the familiar path through sloped, grey streets, down little alleyways with crumbling steps littered with crisp packets and broken beer bottles, to the dingy street of Spinners End. The Snape house, with its peeling red door and piece of cardboard covering the missing pane of glass in one of the downstairs windows, had not changed a bit as Lily approached it for the first time that holiday. Inexplicably nervous, she knocked on the door.

A tall woman answered, a woman with untidy black hair scraped back into a bun and a pale, severe face. She stood in the doorway, hunched into her housecoat, looking down at Lily with undisguised hostility.

"Hello, Mrs Snape." Lily said brightly. "Is Sev home?"

"Yeah." the woman turned and walked down the narrow hallway to the stairs. "Severus! That girl's here!" she yelled up. Lily shuffled her feet awkwardly on the step, listening for Sev's reply. She couldn't hear what he said, but Mrs Snape came back along the hallway. "He's up in his room." she said, hurrying away. Lily assumed this was an invitation to come in, so she crossed the threshold and shut the door, hurrying up the worn-carpeted stairs so as not to have to exchange more words with his mother.

First door on the right, Lily remembered, heading towards it and knocking. She heard the familiar voice call 'come in', and pushed the door open. Severus Snape was lounging on his bed, head propped up on his elbow. The green curtains were still closed, bathing the room in a cool, green light. She noticed how out-of-place he looked in Muggle clothing, his black jeans too tight and his white shirt too big. The preposterous attire made him look even more stringy and lanky. He regarded Lily impassively with his black eyes.

"Hi, Sev," she said, sitting down on the floor by his bed, arms wrapped round her knees. "How's your summer been? Sorry I haven't been to visit sooner."

"I wondered where you'd got to." he replied flatly. "Summer's been rubbish, as always. Can't wait to get back."

"Me neither. Petunia's been driving me crazy." Lily rolled her eyes, and he smiled slightly.

"Just jinx her."

"You know I can't!" Lily laughed. Several times over the holidays, she had been tempted to do exactly that. But it wasn't really worth the expulsion from Hogwarts, so she had kept her wand away from her sister.

"Maybe we should both do it. Then we'd get expelled and could get the Hell out of here." Sev rolled over onto his front, looking serious all of a sudden. He looked at the wall ahead of him with its peeling paint as if he would dissolve it with his gaze.

"What's up, Sev?" Lily asked quietly. She knew when something bad was wrong, and this was one of those times. He had gone so completely silent he could've been dead.

"You need to get going, Lily." Suddenly, just as quickly as his black mood had come on, he was up off the bed, checking the tiny clock on the shelf above her head.

"Why? You never normally throw me out." Lily watched him curiously as he went over to the mirror and began frowning at himself in it, hopelessly rearranging his black hair.

"You just ought to go home. I've got... stuff to do." Sev came away from the mirror and stood expectantly over her. Lily got up, eyes blazing as she squared up to him. She saw him falter and watched his eyes sweep distractedly over her.

"What's going on?" she asked in a low, measured voice.

"Nothing. It's... nothing." Sev looked painfully at the floor. "Lily, can you get me out of-?"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence. Echoing up from the hall, they both heard the doorbell ring. He looked terrified and Lily knew she had to do something. She hurried to the window and threw it open, peering down the sheer drop to the scrap of yard below.

"Come on, Sev! The window," she intoned, but he couldn't move. He just stood there, frozen. "Who's at the door?" she asked, frustration creeping into her voice.

They heard footsteps on the stairs, and the sound seemed to bring Severus Snape out of his reverie. He whirled round, looking madly at Lily.

"Sit down. Just sit down and stay quiet." he told her in a hiss of a voice.

Knowing this was not the time to be annoyed at him for telling her what to do, Lily perched on the bed, crossing her legs. There was a soft knock on the door. At first, Sev didn't answer. He just stood there, looking angry.

"Snape?" a man's voice asked.

"Come in." he muttered finally.

The door opened and in filed three people. The first was a young man of around twenty, tall, blonde and disdainfully handsome in fine black robes. Lily knew who he was; Lucius Malfoy. He was followed by a girl she recognized from school, a Slytherin seventh-year with long, white-blonde hair done up in ringlets and red satin robes. Behind her came a woman Lily did not recognize, but who gave her a strange sense of fear. She was tall, almost as tall as Lucius, with wild black hair, haughty, beautiful features and a long, dark-green dress. She looked to be around twenty two. Lily didn't know the entire trio by name, but she understood who they were – Death Eaters, or at least sympathisers. Lucius had proven something of a mentor for Sev when he'd first got to Hogwarts.

"Well, well. Long time, no see, Severus." Lucius smiled, but it was cold. "You've been evasive this summer."

"Who's this?" the tall, black haired woman closed the door, eyes on Lily. Her voice was deep and cultured. She turned to look at Severus. "A friend of yours?"

"This is... this is Lily Evans." Sev replied. "She's a friend from school who lives nearby."

"I've never seen you in the Common Room." the blonde girl said.

"Yeah, she's in Ravenclaw." Sev lied smoothly.

"Muggle-born?" Lucius addressed Lily, his blue eyes piercing. Sev gave Lily an imperceptible look, eyebrows raising just a fraction. None of the guests noticed.

"Half-blood," Lily said slowly, holding the gaze of Lucius Malfoy. He seemed satisfied with her answer, for he held out his hand. She didn't take her eyes away from his as she stood and shook his hand. His grip was too firm. The hairs on the backs of her arms rose; instinctively, she hated this man.

"I'm Lucius Malfoy." he said in a way that suggested he knew he needed no introduction. "This is my girlfriend, Narcissa, and her sister Bellatrix."

"Hi," Lily nodded to each of them. Narcissa nodded curtly back, Bellatrix just stared haughtily.

"We're on our way into London, Severus," Lucius turned back to Sev with one final, appraising glance at Lily. "Bella suggested we call on you. Perhaps you'd like to join us in London? I'm sure you'd be most welcome."

"Lily and I were going to get started on our summer homework." Sev blinked at Malfoy, muttering this weak excuse.

"Come now, Severus," Lucius smiled, waving a hand, "Honestly, you can do that tomorrow."

Sev muttered something about 'OWL year', but couldn't seem to think of any more arguments against their suggested jaunt to the city. He looked at Lily.

"Your friend should come too, Sevvie." Bella cooed in a hideously sweet, mocking voice.

"Oh, no, thanks, I've got to get back to see my sister." Lily said, heading for the door. "She'd like to see you, Sev. You – you haven't visited us all summer." she gave her friend a meaningful look. He was about to reply, when Bellatrix cut across him.

"Who is your sister?"

"Petunia. Petunia Evans," Lily replied.

"I don't remember her from school either." Narcissa raised a perfectly-arched eyebrow.

"No... no, she's only eight," the lies were becoming more and more difficult to come up with. Lily also had this terrible feeling that none of them were being accepted as truth by the menacing guests.

"Lily, I think I'll go to London." Sev spoke finally. He looked sort of guilty as he turned to Lucius. "She won't like it much. Not her kind of thing."

"Very well," Lucius Malfoy smiled graciously at Lily, "A shame, but you know her better than we do, Severus."

Lily looked at all of them, shocked. Sev was just going to go with them? Without putting up any kind of fight? She felt sick – he had changed beyond all recognition.

"Whatever." she snapped, pushing past Narcissa and Bellatrix to get to the door. "See you around, Sev."

She hurried from the room, crashing down the stairs and out the door before anyone could say anything. Breathing hard from her sudden departure and from anger at Severus Snape, Lily stormed down the street, heading home. She didn't want to think about any of it – the Death Eaters or her friend's face when he agreed to go with them. Would they kill Muggle-borns tonight? Fighting the sudden chill, Lily tried to think of something else. When she reached her own street, she was still blinking back tears.


End file.
